Talent?

I was at a friend’s wedding recently and got into this conversation with someone I met there. Since we both work in the same industry (media & entertainment), we had a conversation about who we liked/admired in the industry.

An interesting point of view that was presented to me was: See, if person A has survived in the industry for these many years, then there must be something to them. Like, they must be talented on some level. Like Shah Rukh Khan may not be the best actor, but he’s survived in a cut-throat industry despite being an outsider, so he must have some kind of talent. Whether it is marketing or acting, is besides the point.

Except, it is not.

I may sadly have to admit that yes, people like that definitely seem to have “some sort of” talent. But whether it is the right kind, I’m not so sure. Now, what do I mean by “the right kind”.

Well, the “right kind of talent” to me is talent that inspires. You know that feeling you get inside when something just randomly out of nowhere touches you, stirs you awake and makes you either laugh (and remember it), ponder, think deeply, smile, or in an extreme case, actually want to make a change/difference. THAT. If someone can do that, I admire it.

Not cheap gimmicks, not a loud voice and character, not an in-your-face sense of humour, not an over-the-top-self-marketing-and-promotion personality. None of that inspires.

Quite frankly, it bores. Like SRK.

If you want to truly be remembered as a great artist or better yet, a good person, irrespective of your field of work, then do something from the heart, and if it even touches just ONE other heart and inspires that heart, then you would have made the right difference.